It isn't alive, and has no structures even approaching the complexity of the brain, but a compound called vanadium dioxide is capable of 'remembering' previous external stimuli, researchers have found.
'No Other Material Behaves in This Way': Scientist Identify a Compound With a Memory
Illustration of the vanadium dioxide 'memory'. (POWERlab/2022 EPFL)
https://www-sciencealert-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.sciencealert.com/no-other-material-behaves-in-this-way-scientist-identify-a-compound-with-a-memory/amp
It will be interesting to see whether this discovery leads to vanadium becoming the next superstar mineral.
Potentially having both high purity recovered and mined vanadium, could well position NMT as a dominant player in the provision of feedstock for next generation technology (for supercomputers and the like).
